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Morning Five: 03.01.10 Edition

Posted by jstevrtc on March 1st, 2010

It’s all over in Vancouver, and we admit that when there was no college hoops to be found, we caught a couple hours of it. So we’ll sort of miss those tape-delayed images of Shaun White doing tricks, Bode Miller occasionally zooming down hills, Apolo Ohno whizzing around ovals, and Lindsey Vonn doing…well, doing just about anything. But this month, above all others, belongs to college basketball. Welcome to March, people...

Even though Philadelphia University’s Herb Magee is reeling him in for this particular title, Northern State’s Don Meyer is considered the winningest NCAA men’s basketball coach of all time because the NCAA counts ALL wins at all four-year colleges as long as the coach spent at least ten years at NCAA schools. Meyer, who announced a week ago that he would retire at the end of this season, coached his final game on Saturday night — a loss to Southwest Minnesota State. Meyer retires with a record of 923-324. Much respect, sir. Godspeed and good health to you.

Temple got seven threes from Juan Hernandez in leading Temple to a 65-53 win over La Salle on Sunday, but the victory didn’t just improve the Owls’ record to 24-5 and keep them in a tie with Xavier atop the Atlantic 10 (both 12-2). Their perfect 4-0 record against the other member schools won them the Big 5 title for this year. If you don’t think that means anything to anyone, consider the Big 5 creed: “They say there is no real prize for winning the Big 5. They must not be from Philly.”

In an article by Lexington Herald-Leader writer Jerry Tipton, Kentucky chief John Calipari claims that a couple of his players were “sleepwalking” through the whole game. He doesn’t specifically name the somnambulists, but — careful not to take anything away from the Volunteers’ effort — he cites a combination of the quick turnaround from Thursday’s late game against South Carolina and (more alarmingly) what he feels is inexperience among some of his players in preparing themselves for important games. Given Calipari’s recent statement about just wanting to “get on to the tournament,” it’s a legitimate question to ask: has ennui crept into the Wildcat camp?

Seriously, Steve Alford? Yes, you are hearing correctly, Alford really does call Jonathan Tavernari that name right at the end. This sure makes the chance of a New Mexico-BYU rematch in the finals of the Mountain West tournament an exciting prospect. In the meantime, maybe someone can get Alford to echo his mentor by saying, “If Tavernari wants to sit down and talk with me…I’ll explain things to him!” Come on, Coach. You’re better than this.

Alford learned a lot from Bob Knight. The good: his coaching. The bad: his behavior.

To be fair though, this was the first time I remember Steve being involved in something having to do with behavior. I remember Knight sitting next to Alford a few years ago during an interview going on this rant laden with expletives. Steve just sat there quietly.